Movie Review: Small Town Monsters' Invasion on Chestnut Ridge

As a researcher into and a fan of the unexplained, I always enjoy watching the documentaries Seth Breedlove and the rest of the Small Town Monsters team produce. "Minerva Monster" and "The Mothman of Point Pleasant" remain two of my all-time favorite movies. I am always looking forward to what they will be making next, but I was even more excited about "Invasion on Chestnut Ridge." This was for two reasons. Firstly, the film focuses on the Chestnut Ridge. The Chestnut Ridge is a mountain range that spreads across the western edge of Pennsylvania and just happens to be one of the weirdest and most fascinating places on Earth, in my opinion. Secondly, the film features heavily the work of one of my mentors, Stan Gordon. Stan is one of the main reasons I am where I am today and I always enjoy seeing his work getting more recognition.

The movie opens with a disorienting shot of the Ridge, followed by narrator Mark Matzke's clean, news reporter-esque introduction. Mark begins by informing the viewers that there are places on this planet that appear to be catalysts for the odd and unusual. He mentions Stonehenge, the Nazca Lines, and the Bermuda Triangle before shifting into the Chestnut Ridge. Some of the rich histories of the Ridge is mentioned and then the most infamous case from the Ridge is brought up: the Kecksburg UFO Crash. The Crash is discussed in detail and included some witness testimony from some locals who experienced the event. From there, the movie begins to go chronologically through the Ridge's weirdest cases. You'll see Bigfoot in cahoots with UFOs, birds so big you'll shout "Judas Priest!". and even a werewolf or two. 

The film has a uniquely '80s infused atmosphere that positively oozes the strange. The visuals, sound effects, and special effects all harken back to the B-science fiction and horror films of that period. Yet, the film still accomplished to be informative and interesting, in a style similar to the classic "In Search of..." series. One of the best parts of the movie, as with "Mothman", was the animated sequences reconstructing the encounters. For "Invasion" the animations were saturated with color and were made to resemble old film videos. 

All in all, "Invasion on Chestnut Ridge" is another fantastic entry to the STM collection of movies. I highly recommend the movie to all of my readers and listeners, whether or not they are from Pennsylvania. Be prepared to be shocked, amazed, and thrilled by this throw-back documentary of epic proportions. If you love old sci-fi and horror and unexplained stories of the mysterious, this is the documentary for you. 

You can find the trailer for "Invasion on Chestnut Ridge" here.

You can purchase the movie here.

And you can keep up with STM here.

Pennsylvania Bigfoot Camping Adventure - An Intense Event... In Tents

As I expressed last week, I love conferences. This year I am attending upwards of 13 different events and those that are later this year have some fierce competition as to my favorite event of the year. I couldn't have had a better time at the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Camping Adventure.

When I arrived at Benner's Meadow Run Campgrounds Friday it was sprinkling slightly. I helped set up my tent and then headed down to the pavilion where the event was being held. I saw that the infamous Legend of Boggy Creek was showing (and I had never gotten to view the movie before) so I grabbed my chair and watched it with my father. I was quite entertained by the movie and can see why so many cryptozoologists find it so significant in their upbring as a researcher. After that, I crawled into my warm (and dry) sleeping bag and went to sleep.

Saturday arrived with the thunder of raindrops pounding on my tent's roof. Aw Crap, I thought to myself as I got dressed and looked at the time: 6 a.m. Double Crap, the event didn't start until 10:30. I had to wait four hours before I could really begin my Bigfoot adventure. So, I did what any good cryptozoologist would do with four hours of free time on his hands in the middle of a supposed Bigfoot-infested camp grounds: I sat in the car with the heat on and read books.

Finally 9:30 rolled around and I glanced outside and saw Stan Gordon arriving. I jumped out of the car (rain coming down in buckets) and helped Stan and his wife, Deb, set up their table and canopy, all while getting wet and muddy in the process. After that most of the other vendors had arrived and the talks were about to start so I braved the elements for the short walk down to the pavilion to check out everything.

The rest of the day was pretty standard: talks went on all day and for the most part I wandered around the vendors catching up with friends and making new acquaintances. I got to meet Steve Kulls (The Sasquatch Detective), Jay Bachochin (of the WPI Hunts the Truth), Kenny Biddle (from Geeks and Ghosts), the lovely hosts of One Bizarre Podcast, Lon Strickler (Phantoms and Monsters), and John Sabol (The Ghost Excavator). I also got to catch up with some good friends of mine: David Weatherly and Dave Spinks (Society of the Supernatural), Ronald Murphy (The Crypto-Guru), Brian D. Parsons (Paranormal News Insider), Stan Gordon, and of course the one and only Eric Altman.

Later that night there was an auction where I got a couple New England Legends DVDs, which is a program that Jeff Belanger does. I got to meet Jeff last week at the Kent Paranormal Weekend and he is an awesome guy. After that we ended up staying at a hotel because the relentless rain caused our tent to leak. I only stayed for half of Sunday's events because I needed to get home. It operated the same as Saturday's except with different speakers.

I have to give Eric an enormous thank you and shout out because without him this event wouldn't have happened. I had such a wonderful time, despite the unendting torrential downpour. Eric said that this year will be the last of the event's for a while. He needs a break from the unending stress that putting together such an event creates. I respect that and respect him for doing such an awesome job at this event. When the PA Bigfoot Camping Adventure returns, though, I am getting tickets immeditately. I honestly can't explain how great I thought this event was. Thank you, Eric, for putting together the event and I look forward to the next one whenever it happens!